$1 B included for Trust Fund
Full funding for CDBG
The Federal Budget released on February 26, 2009, sets several new priorities for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. To review the overview of the FY10 HUD budget click here.
The Budget provides funding for an Affordable Housing Trust Fund for the first time. The Budget requests $1 billion to restore financing of the development, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable housing for very low income residents though the Housing Trust Fund.
In addition, the budget fully funds the Community Development Block Grant program. The Budget provides $4.5 billion to ensure that communities continue to invest in and expand economic opportunities for low-income families. Also, modernizes the program through statutory reforms. Through a more effective formula, appropriate incentives and accountability measures, and a new Sustainable Communities Initiative, the Administration will revamp the CDBG program to better target funds to distressed communities and promote sustainable and economically viable communities.
Among the other Funding Highlights are:
Increases funding for the Housing Choice Voucher program. To address the program’s costly inefficiencies, the Administration will introduce legislative reforms to help fully utilize available funding, alleviate the administrative burdens on the Public Housing Authorities, and establish a funding mechanism that is transparent and predictable in order to serve more needy families.
This program helps more than two million extremely low- to low-income families with rental assistance to live in decent housing in neighborhoods of their choice.
Increases funding for rental assistance. The Project-Based Rental Assistance program will preserve approximately 1.3 million affordable rental units through increased funding for contracts with owners of multifamily properties. This critical investment will assist low- and very low-income households in obtaining decent, safe and sanitary housing in private accommodations.
Combats mortgage fraud and precautionary practices. The Budget provides funds to combat mortgage fraud and predatory practices, and includes increased funding for fair housing enforcement. These resources will allow HUD to increase enforcement of mortgage and home purchase settlement requirements. Enhanced enforcement will create an environment in which home-buyers will be served with mortgage terms that are more easily understood and reliably honored by lenders.
Creates a new Choice Neighborhoods Initiative. The Budget includes funds for HUD to support a range of transformative interventions in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. This new initiative would challenge public, private and nonprofit partners to identify neighborhood interventions that would have the largest return on Federal investments.
Creates a new Energy Innovation Fund. The Budget supports creation of an energy-efficient housing market — including “retrofitting” of older, inefficient housing — and catalyzes private-sector lending in the residential sector.
